Infectiously Enthusiastic, Hockey-Loving Educational Parent, with a Panache for Connecting

As an educator I belong to many professional organizations. One of the organizations, PHE Canada, works with physical & health educators to provide quality programming for our students & community. During the school year I am swamped with emails and newsletters. During the summer I am able to catch up on my professional reading. The reason I take the time to read PHE Canada’s website and newsletters is because of their vision of “all children and youth in Canada living healthy, physically active lives”. That is something I can get behind, I live it at school, at home and in my community.

PHE Canada, offers a free Kindergarten to Grade 3 program for teachers. This program is offered in both English and French. I was lucky enough to test this program out with my JK/SK classes when I taught physical education. It was easy to follow and made for an interesting and exciting activitiy time for the students. If you are interested in the “All My Best Kit” click on the link to register: http://atmybest.ca/teachers/amb-toolkit/order

Another two of my favourite resources are Vibrant Faces & the Always Changing program. Both resources address the health and physical needs of the junior and intermediate student. Vibrant Faces promotes an active lifestyle and energetic self images with a co educational approach. While the Always Changing program provides teachers with the resources and teaching strategies to help students understand their changing bodies. I have used both resources and found both to be helpful.

PHE Canada offers a variety of other resources and programs that focus on many topics including: dance; leadership; health promotion; inter-murals; physical literacy; quality school health and obesity.

When teaching Physical Education, as a Generalist, I found I was at a loss as to which skills were the most important to teach first. I posted this poster (located below) in my classroom to remind the students, as well as myself, the importance of teaching the basics or fundamentals before jumping into a sport. Each time we would review the fundamentals of a sport I would change the poster, so the students understood the reasoning behind the new skill were were attempting to master.

PHE Canada along with The Lawson Foundation and written by The Propel Centre for Population Health Impact, recently released a concept paper titled, Healthy School Communities Concept Paper. After having a chance to review the paper, I felt that this was something educators, school communities, administrators and parents would be interested in.

“Healthy School Communities refers not only to the health initiatives put into motion during school hours, but also how the broader community accepts joint responsibility for the overall health of students, staff, and family members who are part of a school.” – PHE Canada, website

I think the entire adage that it takes a community to raise a child is epitomized within the paper. It describes the importance of collaboration by policy makers, researchers and educators. Mind you this paper is filled with jargon and very little in laymen’s terms. There are great ideas to be found within the body of the paper. If you are a Kin. student or working on your Physical Education Specialist AQ then this paper would be a perfect pairing for your research.